Petals Ain't Blossom Alone
by EchoLoco
Summary: A sleepless night leads Shunsui and Nanao to discoveries about their zanpakutou spirits. Shunsui's is brash and Nanao's is shy, but perhaps they have something in common. UPDATE: Originally meant to be a one-shot, but probably a few more chapters to come.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This story sort of builds on the events of anime episode 264, and the idea that Starrk is Shunsui's Espada counterpart. **

* * *

Shunsui woke up panting. He instinctively reached to the side of his futon, where his paired zanpakutou rested. He slid a hand along the cool steel of the longer blade, breathing heavily.

His sword spirits loved to play games. The taller woman, the manifestation of his longer tachi, was especially capricious, and it wasn't the first time he had been woken from sleep or distracted from training by her tempestuous moods. Usually he was aware of her calling to him, but tonight all he knew was that he needed her. Needed them. It was rare for the smaller woman to participate in such activities, and at first Shunsui had been relieved when the seemingly young girl was content to stare out the window as he and her more proactive counterpart toyed with one another. But when he had discovered that the small, quiet woman had an occasional penchant for dominating her more vivacious partners, he relished the infrequent opportunities to include her, and he hoped this would be one of them.

Urgently, perhaps even desperately, Shunsui whispered the spirits' shared name to his dark quarters. The shadows in the far corner seemed to resolve into a voluptuous form, and gracefully curving bones gleamed in the gentle moonlight. There was no accompanying gleam of a skull mask, however, but Shunsui watched as Katen Kyoukotsu's oiran form grinned devilishly.

"Seems little sister doesn't want to come out to play," she purred. "Or maybe she's occupied elsewhere?"

Shunsui had enough presence of mind left to be confused, though it was quickly slipping as Katen crossed the room towards his futon, hips swaying, the low-sitting edges of her top rippling enticingly. "Elsewhere..." he murmured.

Katen knelt in a straddle across his lap, reaching back to loosen his hair. Shunsui was almost lost in her ministrations, but his curiosity got the better of him and he held Katen firmly by her plunging collar. "Elsewhere," he insisted.

Katen leaned in. "It's no surprise she'd borrow your sword," she drawled seductively in his ear, "seeing as she uses her own so rarely that their relationship can't be nearly as _close_ as ours."

Shunsui's mind wasn't as glazed as his dark, ashen eyes. He knew what his sword spirit meant, and he instinctively felt that it was true. Because as surely as he could see Katen's more forward half before him, he could feel her wakizashi companion, and her salacious anticipation was as clear as his own. It made his breath catch to feel her contribution to their collective urges; usually he drove their desire, along with the taller woman. And now, not only was he perfectly in sync with both of his swords, but his smaller sword seemed to be sharing that synchronicity with his staid lieutenant.

Shunsui leaned into Katen and nipped her ear. "Let's not leave out little sister, ne?" he whispered. She growled in response, eye flashing, and he dragged her up by the collar still in his grip.

* * *

Nanao sighed as she stared up at the crescent moon outside her window. She never stayed up this late, and trying to get into the office on time tomorrow was going to be a miserable feat. But the hair on her neck had been standing on end all evening, and even her zanpakutou seemed to crackle electrically on its stand in her quarters. She could swear she saw tiny blue glimmers of energy writhing on the bare blade, but every time she paced across the room to inspect it, it looked like plain steel.

She watched the blue light trick her eyes once more, and her uncharacteristic frustration came to a head. Striding across the room, she reached her sword in four long steps and seized it. Her fingers tingled as they did in training when she felt close to forcing her sword to manifest itself. But she had never felt the prickle at the back of her neck during training. She spun around, her dagger-length tanto at the ready.

The small woman standing in front of her didn't flinch in the slightest, despite being just inches from the tip of the short blade. Nanao's breath hitched as the moonlight caught the purple tint of the woman's hair, accented with a large skull ornament.

"Ka... Katen Kyoukotsu!" Nanao gasped, astonished. The girl quirked her head ever so slightly to the side and stepped to Nanao's side, craning her neck as she went to observe Nanao's stance. She stopped behind Nanao, who felt as if her night-shirt might be burning up along her spine. A whisper reached her ear and the fire spread.

"That's only half a name," the girl murmured. "The other half is for you to discern."

"Sakikaze*," Nanao replied, hardly knowing where the name came from but wanting suddenly to utter it again and again. Small, half-gloved hands seized Nanao's wrist, gently prying the dagger from her grasp.

"You'll have the chance," came the whispered reply, as if she had read Nanao's mind.

There was a metallic clink as the dagger settled back onto its stand, and Nanao turned to see Sakikaze staring studiously up at her. Reaching up, she brushed a hand through the hair where she had affixed flowers so recently, when she had first met the woman. To think she had gone so many years trying to draw her sword into manifestation and submission, only to draw her out of her shell by gently lacing flora into her hair.

Her lovely, silken violet hair. Nanao drew her hands through it, and the spirit inclined her head toward the motion. Intrigued, Nanao tugged gently as she reached the end of the strands, and the girl leaned forward. She could feel the breaths of the shorter woman on the skin of her throat bared by her simple kimono top. Sliding her hand back through purple hair, she braced the girl's head and brought it up to meet her own lips.

At first the kiss was hesitant, and Nanao merely savored the unfamiliar feel of soft lips against her own. She tasted of plums, Nanao mused absently. Suddenly, however, the electrical tingling she had noticed earlier from the sword surged through her, and the sweet, bright taste of sake flooded her mouth as Sakikaze's tongue slid past her lips. The aroma of sake and the force of the kiss soon had Nanao feeling lightheaded, and she broke the embrace gasping for breath.

She raised a hand to her trembling lips, and then jumped nervously as a brief knock sounded on the door. Before Nanao could summon her voice to answer, it slid open to reveal two imposing silhouettes. Two distinctive silhouettes, one in a flowing haori, and one with dramatic bones and curls adorning her hair.

"Nanao-chan," Shunsui murmured huskily.

* * *

***Sakikaze: blossoming wind**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So apparently the first chapter, which was intended to be a one-shot, confused everyone. So I wrote another which kind of explains things, because I'm sure Nanao would be just as confused.**

**For the record, Nanao's zanpakutou spirit is the second half of Shunsui's, the girl with the skull in her hair and the ninja garb. I've named her Sakikaze, and Shunsui and Nanao share her. The taller woman is referred to here as Katen, and she belongs only to Shunsui. The point of having them share a sword spirit was based on the idea that like Starrk and Lilynette, Shunsui and Nanao complement each other and are best when they fight together. But since they're shinigami and not arrancar, I had to explain how they share power somehow.**

**Also, I know that the ninja girl never speaks in the anime, so it probably seems out of character for her to have lines in this story. But her conversation all takes place in Nanao's mind, and someone has to explain things. **

* * *

For once, Shunsui was distracted from his distractions. The petals of the peach tree above them drifted by unheeded, the sake went untasted, the notes of the shamisen fell on deaf ears.

Without looking up from her instrument, Katen knew that Shunsui was watching his lieutenant and the smaller half of his sword as they strolled through the division gardens in silence. His hat was tilted back from his eyes, and a peach petal fell onto his cheek. Picking it off, he smiled at it sadly.

The strings of the shamisen stilled. "You look like a man whose daughter has just been married off," Katen Kyoukotsu remarked. Her voice sounded almost wistful... or maybe Shunsui was just projecting his feelings onto his sword.

"It's like having both my daughters married off at once," he replied.

Katen huffed gently. "You've not lost the little one. She's no more distant than she ever has been, even if she's no closer."

"She's closer to Nanao-chan," he argued back.

"So are you," Katen reminded him. "And you didn't seem to mind that last night."

Shunsui took a sip of his sake, and silence fell between them.

* * *

Nanao had been walking with Sakikaze for nearly two hours, and not a word had been spoken between them. Not audibly, at least, though Nanao's head buzzed with the newfound voice of her sword, and with the many questions she had.

"How is this possible?" Nanao wondered.

Sakikaze shrugged slightly. "Don't know. Not a lot of research exists about zanpakutou, since it's hard to study someone else's soul. But you already knew that."

Nanao nodded. "Yes. I studied everything we had on the zanpakutou in the library when Captain Hitsugaya was suspected of treason. I guess it's not unprecedented for a sword to have two wielders."

Nanao's mind was quiet for a few moments. "Not quite," Sakikaze finally mused, "I'm not the same when you call me as when Shunsui calls me. I think perhaps because he never knew me as well as he knew Katen."

There was affection in the spirit's tone when she mentioned her other half, as if speaking of a sister or a dear friend. Nanao had not realized the two were so close, considering how Katen had ordered the girl off to accompany Nanao on a mission.

"She sent me to you," the girl replied matter-of-factly. "There was always the smallest thing missing in Shunsui's call, but if Katen answered, I would go with her."

"How could Shunsui not know how to call you out properly after all these years? How could he achieve bankai like that?"

The girl quirked her head slightly, a motion Nanao had grown accustomed to over the few weeks since the blossom viewing party when all of this had started.

"Did you know, he did not even know there was a second form to our manifestation?"

Nanao gasped quietly at the revelation.

"When we fought him in the cave, he realized there was 'something else' there, or so he said. Before that, in our battles, I think he thought of me as one of Katen's instincts. He talked of Katen being in the mood to fight, but Katen's ways are subtle, and though she is always in the mood to fight, she sees fights as play. She likes victory, likes toying with her opponents, but she abhors violence if it can be avoided."

"...and for you, playing is fighting," Nanao guessed, disturbed slightly by the idea. "Fights are like a game, and the strategy of defeating your enemy is a thrill."

"Already you know my nature better than Shunsui."

"But how?" Nanao asked again, perplexed. "Hundreds of years together..."

"Hundreds of years of drinking and women," Sakikaze said sadly, turning to look over her shoulder at her older master. He was looking right at her. "Always something missing. Katen needs something, someone, to motivate her to strike to win, to kill if necessary. That is why we are a pair. I think that need for something, someone else echoes into Shunsui's life.

"It became so much easier to fight when Lisa was around," she continued. "Lisa was never afraid to strike a decisive blow, and she pushed Shunsui in a way no one ever had. It was wonderful, to have Katen feel like she didn't have to hold back so much. It was hard, when she left."

Nanao wiped at her glistening eyes under the edge of her glasses with a sleeve.

"And then you were there," Sakikaze stated. "You pushed him, not with aggression like she did, but with duty, and a desire to protect. He, Katen, they would do anything to protect you."

Nanao was glad she had lifted her sleeve to her face because now she used it to hide her blush. "I... I don't..." she stammered. She was sure she could see Sakikaze smile beneath her mask, and it made her relax.

"You were the thing that was missing. Even so young, you demanded his full effort."

Nanao was embarrassed to think of demanding anything of her captain, but she _did_ recall looking up at him, her nine-year-old self lacking the refined tact she had now, the first time he gave her a tour of the division offices. She had bluntly asked "Why is it such a horrible mess? Don't you ever clean it in here?" Nanao chuckled a little at the memory.

Sakikaze went on. "You made us fight our hardest, together. But more than that, you intrigued me. You, for whom every fight is deadly serious, were a mystery to one for whom a fight is a game and an enemy a toy. I could fight for you, with you, without Katen to temper my aggression, to keep me from going too far. From the first time you and Shunsui fought together on a mission, I knew I always wanted to fight together with you."

Nanao's violet eyes widened, startled. "Thank you," she breathed, awed. "I wanted so much to know who you were. All the other officers learned their shikai by learning the names and natures of their swords. It just happened for me, and everyone who knew that was jealous, but I was just disappointed."

"I remember. The third time you sparred with Shunsui... you were so determined. Fierce. I remember wanting you to do well, maybe even to win if you had an unexpected edge..."

"Unexpected is putting it mildly. I was keeping afloat with kidou, trying to figure out how I was going to get close enough to even use my blade, and then suddenly I'm in shikai, and I was so shocked that I just stood there like an idiot and poor Shunsui nearly ran me through before I realized what was happening."

"Sorry about that. I wasn't quite sure how to work with you at first. I thought I knew how to work with a sword like yours and tried to tell you, but I know it wasn't clear at first."

"How did you know how to work with a sword like mine?" Nanao asked.

"Lisa's friend Kensei also had a short, wind-based sword. I can't remember how many of their sparring matches we watched, and how many of those tricks Lisa thought she could use against a wind-based wazikashi."

"So Captain Muguruma had a sword like mine?"

"Has. He's alive in the living world somewhere. Captain Urahara got the message to some of the officers who had thought they lost people forever in the hollowfication attacks, after the initial hype died down. I would recommend training with him if you could find him, but if Shunsui's searches for Lisa revealed anything, it's that the Vizard don't want to be found."

"Vizard?"

"Masked shinigami," Sakikaze explained. Nanao shuddered in distaste. "Don't knock it until you've tried it," the shorter girl quipped, tapping on the skull affixed to her hair.

"But you're not..." Nanao gasped.

"No. Our bones are mere ornaments. But I doubt Urahara, Tsukabishi, and Yoruichi would have abandoned their squads and the Gotei 13 for a group of people who were as bad as all that."

After thinking for a moment, Nanao nodded her assent.

"...So. What happens now?"

"You'll learn to fight with me, to wield my abilities to their full potential."

"And will Captain Kyouraku have to learn to fight without you?"

"No, I expect I'll be pulling double duty." Sakikaze looked over her shoulder at her original wielder and her other other half, and even though Nanao could only see one teal eye, she could tell there was fondness in the girl's expression.

"I expect you'll have to learn to fight beside us, as well," Sakikaze added.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry for the extremely few-and-far-between updates. I'm in college and fanfic is just not a priority for me, though I try to get to it when I can. Also, sorry that the first two chapters were so confusing. It was a fuzzy idea at best when I started writing it, but I'm working it out in more detail now and hopefully this chapter will help explain some things... but this is still just me speculating on the nature of zanpakutou and their abilities.  
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* * *

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Shunsui leaned against a tree at the edge of the training grounds where Nanao was practicing. He hadn't seen her training with her zanpakutou in quite a while, but he remembered well the tiny darts of air that flew from the serrated edges of her shikai with deadly speed and control toward the targets. He was proud of her for maintaining her powers over the years despite her favoring kidou.

Pride was the most recent of a slew of feelings Shunsui had experienced for Nanao and her zanpakutou over the last few days. His first response had admittedly been desire. Despite his advances, Nanao had always kept him at a professional distance, but in the heat of the moment when Nanao discovered who her zanpakutou was, there had been a connection forged between them. Desire was followed by concern (he wouldn't call it regret) when Nanao had spent the next day either avoiding him or stammering awkward apologies to him. Once Shunsui had convinced her that the last thing she had done was offend him, she had regained her confidence and started working with Sakikaze.

That was were jealousy had come in. Since his Academy days, Katen Kyoukotsu had been his exclusively. Though he had not discovered the division of his zanpakutou's identity until recently, he had learned the features of their personalities over their many years together. She - they - had always been at his call alone, always stood by his side when hardly anyone else would. And now, the one girl he had wanted for the better part of a century was working seamlessly with the part of his sword he had never thoroughly connected with. Sure, he could still call the quiet girl out of his own swords along with her more brazen counterpart, but he didn't think he would ever be able to maximize her potential like his lieutenant could.

Shunsui had actually come out to the training field today out of a sort of sense of self-pity, to see how the two girls were getting along without him. But when he saw how much they were accomplishing, and how happy Nanao looked even though she had never really liked sword training before, he found it hard to be anything but proud.

Pride in Nanao was a confusing feeling for Shunsui at the best of times. He had taken her under his wing when Lisa disappeared, the little girl seeming as lost as he himself felt without his vice-captain. He knew Lisa's fate had nothing to do with lacking strength; nevertheless he determined to train Nanao to be strong and independent, and he was proud to watch the shy tyke become exactly that over the years.

At some point, however, he had stopped being proud _of_ her, as a father of his child, and began to be proud _for_ her as an equal, as she continued to push herself in her training and developed into the lovely and deadly woman who trained alongside him rather than under his supervision. At some point he had begun to notice how attractive his Nanao-chan had become, even if many of the other men of Soul Society didn't take more than a passing glance at the bespectacled girl. It was because he had cared for as she grew up that he saw things about her that others couldn't, and it was because of this that he felt guilty for what had happened a few nights ago. For what he had been feeling for years that led him to do what he did a few nights ago. Shunsui had known Nanao since she was little, and because of that she had trusted and looked up to him, and though he was supposed to protect her, he felt he had taken advantage of her when she was vulnerable.

He remembered clearly the day he had first communicated with his zanpakutou, even though it had been centuries ago. It had been confusing and exhilarating and terrifying, and he distinctly remembered Jyuushirou trying to drag him to Fourth Division thinking he had some kind of delirious fever. He had been much younger than Nanao was when she first encountered Sakikaze, but he imagined if anything that must make it more of a jolting experience. Nanao had gone through a lot of jealousy and insecurity when other shinigami her age were learning the names of their swords and hers merely acted according to her will without responding to her. She had come to terms with the unique relationship over the years, though it left her heavily favoring kidou, and to suddenly have that balance shaken must have thrown her more than Shunsui could imagine. And at that time, when he should have given her space, or talked to her about it, he had given in to the temptation she presented.

He didn't fully regret the action. Nanao had been everything he had imagined and more, inexperienced but confidently passionate. The image of her smooth, bared curves still graced his vision whenever he closed his eyes. But when he opened his eyes to look at Nanao, he saw her working through sword kata with her back to him. She knew he was there; she always knew, and he wasn't even attempting to mask his presence. And she wouldn't acknowledge him.

Shunsui wondered how much of that night was his influence. His brazen sword spirit affecting Nanao, and his flirtatious habits conditioning her inhibitions. How much of it was his _fault_. He couldn't change what he had done, but he could protect Nanao from ever having to deal with it again. He turned to leave her to her training.

* * *

Nanao felt her captain's reiatsu withdraw and finished the steps of the exercise merely out of habit. Her attention went with her captain... Kyouraku... Shunsui? She didn't know how to think of him anymore. Their professional boundaries had been her saving grace up until now, her shield against the inexplicable connection she felt with him. She used to tell herself it was because he had been there for her when Vice-Captain Yadomaru left; because he was the only one who understood. Of course, other division members had lost their captains and lieutenants in that incident and in many others. But only Captain Kyouraku understood losing Lisa. He was the only one who understood losing someone who was like a sister.

He had told her, many decades ago, what Lisa had meant to him. Growing up in a stifling noble family who had nothing but expectations for him. With an older brother who thought of Shunsui not as a playmate or even a relative but as a responsibility, an opportunity to either uphold or tarnish the family name. He told her how he fought those expectations and responsibilities, no matter how irrational it might have been, and cultivated a persona of indifference and excess. He went through vice-captains like boxes of tea, each of them with the same expectations of him. Until Lisa, who, with her carefree nature and steadfast work ethic, cajoled him and bribed him to do his work but never forced him or expressed disappointment when he didn't. She had been like the sister he never had - she dared to tease and scold him, and allowed him to do the same to her. What was more, she supported him no matter what.

Nanao had seen the look in her captain's eyes when he told her these things. They shone with respect and fondness. She had wanted nothing more, then, but for him to look like that at her. She wanted him to depend on her and respect her and not feel pressured by her. She smiled ruefully when she heard the rumors about why she did all of her lazy captain's paperwork - how silly people would feel if they only knew that it was because she had thought of him as a brother rather than a lover.

Or, at least she had. She had tried to be a replacement for Lisa at first, taking over much of Kyouraku's work but prompting him to do at least some of it so he didn't feel as if she found him useless. She allowed his drinking and other unsavory habits without condoning them - she was her own person, and she allowed him to be his. She even let him tease and joke with her. But his teasing often took a flirtatious turn, and Nanao didn't know that anyone could have put up with decades of her charming captain's flirting without finally falling for him.

When she first realized she had a crush on her captain, Nanao was mortified. Of course, that had something to do with the fact that the realization was due to Kaien's teasing resulting in a violent blush that made her fellow lieutenant laugh uproariously. A fond smile came over Nanao's face as she reminisced about Kaien, and she realized her sword now hung still at her side. She turned it to gaze at the blade, and her mind formed a memory in the reflection.

_It must have been about fifty years ago. She had been training with Kaien, one of the few people she felt comfortable doing sword training with. Most shinigami dismissed her short tanto blade as useless in combat, and training with a projectile-kidou based shikai like hers required a high-seated officer's skill. Kaien could counter her blindingly fast darts, but he also encouraged her to work with her unreleased sword, training her to get close enough to do her opponent damage without getting caught by their longer swords._

_She had leaped for an opening, and he countered with a swift strike toward the inside. Instead of moving away from his swing toward the other side, Nanao had ducked straight down and swung a foot out, knocking Kaien off his feet. He chuckled as he propped himself on his elbows in the dirt._

_"I deserved that," he said good-naturedly, "I expected a girl to dodge to the outside in a fight and to drop in front in a fantasy when I should have been prepared for both."_

_Nanao blushed slightly as she recalled her naive reply. "I'm used to dropping down with my captain since he has two blades. But I don't know why you'd fantasize about that, since even he finds it a difficult position to defend from."_

_"I'll bet he does," Kaien snickered, and something about his tone made Nanao blush. He laughed harder, until he was rolling on the ground._

_"What?" Nanao exclaimed petulantly, tossing a small blast of kidou at a dirt clod that exploded over Kaien's face and hair._

_"It's a good thing Captain Kyouraku doesn't fight women," Kaien quipped, brushing dirt from his hair, "if they can make him defenseless like that."_

_"Hey!" Nanao defended her captain, "I didn't say it makes him defenseless, I just said it makes it harder!"_

_Kaien howled with laughter, nearly toppling as he tried to stand up. "Well, at any rate, he has you to jump to his defense." He reached out to tweak one of Nanao's braids._

_She dodged, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at him. "I'm not jumping to his defense," she retorted, blushing again._

_"Oh, I'm sure he'd be glad to know he has your faithful support," Kaien replied with a smile. Waving a hand over his shoulder, he turned to leave. "Next week, Ise-san?"_

_"Whatever," Nanao responded grudgingly._

Nanao thought back to that time. She had been secretly flattered by the idea that her captain would be glad to have her defend him. She didn't know what the rest of Kaien's comments meant, but she knew that his tone had made her think about her captain in ways that made her feel funny. When Rangiku had asked her about her training session with Kaien and then teased her about having a crush when she blushed, Nanao realized with horror that she had a crush not on her fellow lieutenant, but on her own superior officer. She was a vice-captain, and though she was younger than most seated officers even, she should still be more professional than that. Title aside, she shouldn't have a crush on her captain. He was so much older and it was silly.

Even after she was much older, and frequently teased about acting much older than she looked, the idea of liking her captain was ridiculous to Nanao. There were new reasons now, and she listed them off in her head. She looked older, but everyone knew how great the difference in their ages was, especially since many people in Soul Society had seen Nanao grow up in Kyouraku's care. She had thought of him like a brother once. She was his vice-captain, and it was unprofessional. People would say horrible things about how she got her rank, even though she had been vice-captain since she was still wearing her hair in pigtail braids, but people were thick that way. And then there was the way people talked about her captain... Nanao knew that there was a lot of exaggeration involved, but he did have a reputation for cycling through women. Women with ample curves and loose habits. There was no way a man who liked women like that would like slender, reserved Nanao.

She had been telling herself these things for years to keep that growing crush at bay. It helped keep her from doing something stupid, but didn't really hinder her crush. She had tried dating other guys as well, but all that did was show her that she couldn't connect with them like she did with Captain Kyouraku. She had assumed that their connection was entirely due to their relationships with Lieutenant Yadomaru, but now, Sakikaze in hand, she wasn't sure. Maybe the connection of their swords had been forged by their close relationship over the course of her life, but now that she considered it, she felt it ran deeper than that.

And she had ruined it.

She had let down her carefully-constructed defenses and slept with him despite all her reasons not to. To be fair, she hadn't expected to sleep with Kyouraku himself, but Sakikaze had felt so strongly of his reiatsu, and having given in to her, Nanao could hardly withdraw when _he_ showed up at her door, resonating with her own spirit in that way...

She had to stop thinking about it. That was why she was out here training alone in the first place. She had crossed a line, and it was clear that there was no taking it back, but if she tried very hard, she might be able to restore their working relationship.

Who was she kidding? Things would never be the same. She had slept with her captain, and even on the very slim chance he could go back to the way things were, Nanao knew she couldn't. She wouldn't be able to look him in the eye anymore, which meant her most reliable means of getting him to behave was gone. If she did happen to meet his eyes, his stormy grey eyes, ever again, she'd be tempted again and she couldn't deal with that. All the reasons she had given herself for avoiding a relationship with him were still there. Well, almost. The idea that he would not be interested in her was shattered when he took her almost desperately, lavishing her with caresses that clearly demonstrated how interested in her he could be. There was no way they would ever again think of each other as brother and sister or whatever their relationship might have looked like before.

Nanao sighed. He was still her elder and superior, still irresponsible, and people would still talk. She had no choice - she had to put things back the way they had been, at least as best she could. She felt for her captain's trailing reiatsu and located him in the office of all places. Sheathing Sakikaze in her sleeve, she started toward the division building.


End file.
